• Google must divulge YouTube log [BBC]
• Get going with Upcoming this summer [Upcoming]
• BBC iPlayer website redesign [BBC Internet Blog]
• Government 2.0 is a rubbish name for a good initiative [Guardian]
• Treasury calls for yet another report into free data [Guardian]

Went to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2008 at Carlton Terrace House on Wednesday.

This was much more than a straight exhibition – researchers involved in the scientific fields represented were present, accompanied by an array of interactive equipment.

I was there for about two and half hours and didn’t make much progress getting to see all of the exhibition.

Taking part in the interactive exhibits, along with absorbing discussions with researchers, slowed down my progress somewhat!

From what I did get to see, the following stood out for me:

• Wonder in carbon land: how do you hold a molecule? – Buckyballs, nanotubes, fullerenes and quantum computers.
• From hard-disk to healthcare: what can spintronics do for you? – A new field of research based on a property of electrons known as their spin or magnetic moment.
• Exploring the Solar System: mankind or machine? – How should the UK explore space?
• Back to the Big Bang? At the Large Hadron Collider – After a 25-year wait scientists will turn on the Large Hadron Collider.
• Spot the penguin? – Automatic biometric fingerprinting of animals in natural habitats.

All in all a fascinating exhibition – I just wish I could have seen more of it!

• Warning to copyright enforcers: Three strikes and you’re out [Guardian]
• Hackers fan the flames of imagination at Mashed [Guardian]
• London SearchMonkey Developer Evening a great success [Yahoo Developer Network blog]
• Firefox download record official [BBC]
• The machine that copies itself [Guardian]
• Merger forms transatlantic union [BBC]

Nearly a quarter of tickets for WordCamp UK 2008 have been sold only a week after they where made available.

Entry to the event, to be held Saturday and Sunday 19-20 July 2008 at The Studio Birmingham, is only by pre-purchasd ticket.

To ensure a place at the first WordCamp UK book online now using a debit or credit card.

For more details go to the WordCamp UK wiki, which includes the running order.

• AP took it to the wire but needs to rethink its role [Guardian]
• 10 things you need to know about WordPress 2.6 [Technosailer]
• Is the pace of change really such a shock? [plasticbag.org]
• Soul [Jeremy Keith]

• Under the iPlayer hood for radio [BBC Radio Labs]
• On a different wavelength [Guardian]
• How much can a website cost? [Puffbox]
• In praise of the hyperlink [Jeremy Keith]
• Condé Nast to launch Wired in the UK [Guardian]
• Fire in the sky: Tunguska at 100 [BBC]

Seen today in Bentinck Street London W1.

Phoenix Lander scientists believe Martian soil appears to contain sufficient nutrients to support life.

Preliminary analysis on the planet’s soil have found it to be much more alkaline than expected.

In another development Phoenix has scraped to icy soil confirming that surface, subsurface and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

The mission appears to be making excellent progress, with the possibility of discovering evidence of Martian life either now, or in the past, seemingly increasing on a daily basis.